


The Scientist

by MistressofYaoi



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Drama, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Slow Burn, Social Commentary, alternative universe, hidden romance, massive transformers crossover in Prime universe, mention of suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:42:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15273876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressofYaoi/pseuds/MistressofYaoi
Summary: The war between the Autobots and the Decepticons continues and has caused the loss of countless lives. Meanwhile on a small Research Colony, turned refugee camp and then turned into a mini-city of sorts, a scientist by the name of Skyfire is left wondering what the point of this war really is and if it ever truly can come to an end before the extinction of his race.





	1. Quiet Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> It is here my readers, the long-promised re-write of Still Alive. The story itself will be different because as I originally said in the closing chapter for Still Alive, I lost all notes on that story. So I present to you guys this new story that will follow the same themes of the previous story as well as some plot lines though they will be different in some places, please enjoy!

War can destroy a person in many ways. To those weak of heart, they themselves can lose their very self in war, and in the end, lose both that which makes them who they are and more importantly their moral code. To others their hearts can grow cold, unfeeling, and though they may still fight for what they once believed in, what they see on the battlefield will change their perspective and their own reality forever. Nothing in this universe is incorruptible by time itself. You will never be who you were before the war. Even the kindest of hearts must harden to survive and in the end, even a pacifist must become a soldier if they want to survive. "I am a scientist, not a soldier" those were the words uttered the day they parted ways, the words that haunt his recharges every cycle since then. Never had he regretted a decision in his life more than those six words.

His friend had chosen his side in this battle and he had chosen his own path and had left Cybertron after the bombing of Vos. Yes, he was running away but there were so many others that were more capable, more qualified to fight than he ever was at the time. He could help others off-world, but was he just saying that to himself to justify his own actions? So that he would not see himself as the coward he felt he was? When he left and then the news reached those in space that their home was now nothing more than a dead husk of a planet, so many lost hope that cycle.

That was when the first mass suicide of Cybertronians happened on K-2, twenty-six percent of the population chose to end their lives that cycle. He wishes he could say that was the last time such a tragedy happened in K-2 but it was not, it was just the beginning. The number of Cybertronian refugees skyrocketed on the colony not long after that incident. What had once been nothing more than a research colony for the few scientists of Vos was soon turned into a refugee camp for those with nowhere else left to go and the little energon the researches had for themselves was stretched and diluted time and again to the limit of its use and that’s when the sickness began, which lead to the rioting and more lives were lost as the scientists locked themselves away in the research tower for their own protection. It was turning into a cycle of loss on K-2.

Everything was rationed in the beginning but then the infighting began amongst those who had come from the war. Between those from different fractions that crossed paths. Even though they had said they had put the war behind them and wanted to move past all the grudges it seemed those grudges were harder to let go of than anything else, ‘He killed my friend, I can not let him live for that!’ is how many of the conflicts started. Everything that was wrong, it was obviously someone else's fault and no one was going to take responsibility for anything because they were not the ones to blame in their own optics. Everyone wanted someone to blame.

He could not just sit in the well-fortified lab where he and the other scientists, the original occupants of this colony had locked themselves away, working on their projects, some of which were trying to help those outside the lab. Skyfire was standing on one of the highest balconies of the facility above all other buildings looking down on the camps below, the shanty town below being a stark contrast to the lab that stood tall and glistening above all surrounding it like some monolith to the knowledge it held within. Many of the original structures around K-2 were built high off the ground because the original crew that called this research center turned colony home were from Vos, a city that only had been made up of flight frames the most common of which being seekers. Skyfire himself was not a seeker but a shuttle class cybertronian.

It was very unusual to see someone of his class in science, something that was not lost on Skyfire because many around him had pointed it out constantly but at least the other scientist did not talk down to him anymore, because many shuttle class Cybertronians were known to be a little slow in processor. In the optics of many Skyfire should be happy to be used as transport like others of his kind, but that was not the life Skyfire had wanted. He had always had an interest in science and other intellectual subjects and with a mind as bright as his well it would have been a waste to have him doing such work. He was lucky to have come online in a city like Vos that allowed him to follow a career into science, all other cities would have just put him to work in either transport or exploration, the later would have him transporting scientists off world. The irony of that was not lost on Skyfire when he left Cybertron in his own alt mode and not on one of the provided ships so that there would be room for other passengers on the ship.

He was reading the notes on his datapad about the latest failed experiment on creating a safe synthetic energon source, a project that had been on the back burner before the war but brought to the front when the war began to leave citizens hungry and had become more important now due to the natural resources of their new home quickly dwindling upon the arrival of the refugees below.

“Credit for your thoughts Skyfire?” one of the mechanical engineers that were part of the original crew stepped out of the lab and into the evening’s cooling atmosphere. Hotlink was a small purple seeker who was considered short for a seeker but tried to not let it bothered him too much, he only came up to Skyfire's knee joint, whereas most seekers came just above his hip. Though for any other seeker they would have hated their height, for seekers were known to be extremely vain, Hotlink was the furthest from being vain and one of the most down to earth mechs on the colony. He was also one of the few seeker scientists on the colony that agreed to work with non-seekers as some of the refugees had been scientists and upon passing inspection were allowed to work within the lab to help the scientist. Very few non-seekers were allowed their own projects however due to a lack of resources to go around. In particular, Hotlink enjoyed working with Perceptor a former wrecker of all things, something that did not go down well with many of the ex Decepticons that called the colony home. Many would ignore a former wrecker where others would go out of their way to try and bait wreckers into fights to get said wrecker in trouble. It was obvious to Skyfire however, that Hotlink greatly admired the other bot for his brilliant mind and Perceptor made a very excellent lab assistant. Many others at the lab, unfortunately, could not look past the fact that Perceptor had been an Autobot and avoided contact with the bot as much as possible.

“Just thinking…” 

“About the war again? You have been doing that a lot lately.” Skyfire had done a lot of thinking alone recently, he had not realized it had become so obvious to those around him what he had been thinking about though. Scientist were great thinkers after all and it was not uncommon to find one just staring into nothing deep in thought. Still, Skyfire was curious as to where this conversation would go and also trusted that Hotlink would not gossip about the conversation later, so he decided to share his thoughts with his friend.   

“I guess I have, I keep wondering when this will all come to an end” he knew it was wishful thinking at this point, a pipe dream even perhaps. There was so much hate between each side at this point, one began to even wonder how many remembered what started this conflict to begin with or if even what those who thought they did remember if that was the truth anymore.

“At this point, I don’t even think the fall of the leader on either side will bring things to an end, if I am completely honest Skyfire” That was definitely true, a war was like a hydra you take out one head another will just take its place, if only...

“No, but if someone could step up and bring both sides together…” he was only fooling himself thinking that way, he knew it and yet...

“How can you still have so much faith in him?” the small seeker growled at Skyfire. “He abandoned all of us! He allowed Vos to be destroyed! We have no home left to go back to thanks to him!” Him, others did not even use his name in a conversation about him when they talked about the Prince of Vos anymore, many more had completely forgotten who he was and at this point in the war that was a good thing. To have his identity revealed now would not help anyone and could cause more harm than good to too many innocents.

“The whole planet was destroyed Hotlink, Vos would have fallen eventually. He did the right thing when he evacuated the city.” Skyfire always defended him, even when no one else did. Skyfire would always believe in him, even if no one else did.

“And his actions since then?” there was an edge of disgust in Hotlink’s vocalizer as he practically spat the statement. Those who knew who he was were disgusted by what he had become, all but one it seemed. All the original scientists in the lab knew who he was and also knew Skyfire’s past relationship with the Prince to a certain extent, they knew Skyfire had been his closest friend.

“He has done what must be done to protect all of us! If any active Decepticon knew of this place...” granted it was not just him protecting the location of K-2 many of the residents helped keep the place hidden from those who didn't already know of its existence. It was not a place one could simply just discover by chance and those who lived there planned to keep it that way.

“You are so naive Skyfire” He knew that was how others saw him, they could not understand why someone as smart as Skyfire even now stayed loyal to him.

“Maybe I am, but I still believe in him.” it was then that the shuttle turned to face the little seeker who just smiled at the shuttle trying not to look nervous at the serious look on Skyfire’s face. Even if Skyfire himself was not intimidating his size still came across that way at times. “Though I get the feeling you did not come up here to chat about war politics did you Hotlink?” No one ever really wanted to talk war politics as idle chit-chat, it was too depressing in this day and age.

“Never change Skyfire, your a bright light of hope for a lot of us here and as always you are correct,” chuckled the seeker, the shuttle really wished the others would stop saying that about him, he was no more hopeful than the rest of them. “I came here to pass on a message from Bitstream, he wishes to see you in his lab” the seeker then passed two energon cubes to Skyfire, “Could you make sure that idiot drinks his rations this time, please? He gets so caught up in those damn radio signals he forgets to you know?”

“Why does his assistant not remind him?”

“Because the latest one up and asked to be transferred to another lab, no one wants to work with him…” Hotlink sounded sad when he said that, no surprise there though after all Bitstream was his younger brother.

“You could always work…”

“Don’t start with that Skyfire” the seeker crossed his arms before continuing “You know the work Bitstream does is way over my processor”

“You sell yourself short Hotlink” chuckled Skyfire, he was baiting his friend with that one and he knew it.

“And I bet you say that to all the scientists Skyfire which is why I won’t blast you for that one” there was no malice in the seekers' response if anything there was a playful teasing tone. “Well I need to get back to my own lab, got some tests to check and all”

“Don’t you mean to check on your assistant, Preceptor should be there at this time,” added Skyfire as he watched the seeker head back inside. Skyfire might not have seen the blush on the seekers' faceplate at his comment, but he knew it was there.

 

~to be Continued


	2. Claustrophobic Tenancies

Megatron had left his troops in the capable claws of his second in command just over three earth years ago now and for the most part, it had been a peaceful three years without their leader there, to be honest. Especially since they had not had a single run in with any Autobots for months now. Megatron had left promising an army to destroy what was left of the Autobot forces and had ordered his second in command to collect enough energon from this mysterious planet called earth, to feed the army he promised. There were so few Autobots left on the frontline that this obsession for this army seemed almost pointless, there were only six Autobots on earth right? Or was all this so that the defeat of Optimus Prime would be by the end of some glorious final battle, that would be shared as a proud day in history for future Cybertronian generations to celebrate? To make Megatron into the war hero he always saw himself to be? For a tyrant paints themselves as the hero in their own glorious self-portrait that they will teach as history one day.

Starscream chose not to voice his concerns towards Megatron’s state of mind at that time when their illustrious leader told his crew that he was leaving in search of his great army. It would have caused more harm than good to the seeker, no doubt end in another beating from Megatron for questioning him yet again. It was just best to go along with whatever crazy scheme their illustrious leader had come up with at this point. Starscream would bide his time and wait for the right moment to take control of the Decepticons away from Megatron’s iron grip. He had waited this long already, he was willing to wait it out a little bit longer. Megatron’s obsession with this war, and with this idea of his perfect army he felt he had deserved since the beginning of this conflict was never-ending, nothing he’s troops seemed to do for their leader was ever good enough. No army he could ever have would ever be enough to satiate Megatron’s lust for power over his enemies. It was a dangerous obsession he was falling deeper and deeper into, it was at the point where he was almost drowning. An obsessed leader was an unstable leader and an unstable leader was a danger to not only themselves but those under their command as well. No one would ever speak up, however, not with Soundwave around.

A loyal lapdog turned guard dog when need be. That was Soundwave. The ever-loyal third in command of the Decepticons and communication officer waited patiently for Megatron’s eventual return, in constant belief that Megatron would return to them one day soon. He never once lost hope that their leader would be back again and lead them to the promised victory on the horizon. They were on the final stretch of this war that much is what Soundwave believed. This war would come to an end soon and they would gather the resources to return home to their conquered planet of Cybertron and bring about a new age that would reward them all for their loyalty to the cause. It did not seem to matter to the Decepticons that Cybertron was a dead planet, they would find a way to fix that when the time comes. It was just that simple, only it would not be a simple task to revive a dead planet. No one was even sure if it could be done. Win the war and win a dead planet as the prize, when one put it in terms like that it almost seemed pointless.

Since Megatron’s departure, Starscream had not had a single moment of true privacy. There were always optics on him, and it had become almost maddening the sheer lack of privacy he truly had. It almost had him wishing for Megatron to return. Almost. Being a seeker he had to spend a certain amount of time out in the air flying to help regulate his internal systems. Seekers you see have a higher than most other Cybertronian’s natural body temperature and the only way to regulate that internal temperature was through flying in the cold atmosphere of their home planet. The high body temperature kept their internal systems from freezing up during these extreme temperatures while in flight, but it came with many dangers to their internal systems if they ever found themselves grounded. If a seeker grew too cold or hot their entire system would freeze up or crash and in extreme cases could lead to complete system shut down and then the death of their very spark. Other ways of maintaining body temperature included regular bathing to bring the temperature down if it only got slightly too high and in the rare case of them being too cold, sharing body temperature with other Cybertronians to regulate their own. This method was usually only done with other seekers and occasionally other flight frames. Shuttles and other larger fliers were popular choices amongst seekers for this task because shuttles were the only Cybertronians with a higher natural body temperature than a seeker. A seeker however desperate they may be would never under any circumstances be caught sharing body temperature with a ground-based frame. The very thought would disgust and revolt the proudest of seekers. So even when out flying for the purpose of temperature control Starscream would always pick up on his radar Laserbeak, a small drone like symbiote that lived on Soundwave’s chest plate following him. The seeker suspected that this was some order from Megatron upon leaving for Soundwave to keep an eye on the second in command, further proof that Megatron never completely trusted Starscream, no shock there.

The Decepticon leader was right not to trust his second in command or anyone completely as far as Starscream was concerned. You can never completely trust anyone and the seeker almost felt as though Megatron put too much trust in Soundwave. Starscream could never completely read Soundwave’s emotions or actions. It went beyond not being able to see the communications officers face. There was no doubt that Soundwave was a capable warrior, after all, he was a former gladiator just like Megatron and his loyalty to their leader was absolute, and yet, for all the aeons that Starscream had known the third in command he knew the same about his personality today as he did the first cycle he had met the mech. The strong silent type was an understatement when describing Soundwave, just never ever bad mouth Megatron in his presence was the one silent rule many mechs knew to follow when in Soundwave’s presence. The few Decepticons that had broken this rule in front of Soundwave had only done so once. Only once. Soundwave would beat them within an inch of their life but never land a lethal blow upon them unless ordered by Megatron to do so. At times Starscream found himself wondering if Soundwave was nothing more than a well-trained pet to Megatron, though he would at least admit Soundwave was too smart to be considered a pet. Even if he did act it most the time. Starscream was aware of Soundwaves entrance to the main deck as soon as he heard the door open and close, no one else on the ship had a presence quite like Soundwaves.

“What is it Soundwave? I’m busy organizing a team for the energon deposit we found earlier this cycle”

[Autobot approaching energon deposit, identified as Cliffjumper] came the internal message from Soundwave, it was the only way he communicated with the Decepticons, no one aboard the Nemesis had ever heard the cons voice. Starscream often found himself wondering when Soundwave had stopped using his vocalizer and if it was by choice, by order or because his voice box was damaged like the little yellow Autobot.

“If it is just one, just send a squad of Vehicons” grumbled Starscream in reply, he really was not in the mood to deal with of all Autobots Cliffjumper. That particular Autobot had been an annoying thorn digging its way into the seeker's side since before the war and as much as he would love to put an end to that particular... annoyance, he would have to be careful going about that particular vendetta. Moving too obviously on that one could cause trouble, he was just lucky that the damn Autobot had never properly seen his face before the war.

[Autobots always call for backup]

“Are there any other Autobots directly in the area that would not need to ground bridge to the location?”

[Arcee]

The two-wheeler fem, the smallest of the Autobot forces on earth. Despite her size she was one not to be taken lightly, what she lacked in size she made up for in both speed and combat efficiency. Plus it seemed she was partnered quite often with Cliffjumper, no doubt then that when the Autobot would call for backup she would be quick to come to his aid. Then there was the fact that the Decepticons did not know the location of the Autobots current base, though they did know they had access to a ground bridge. There was no way in knowing how close the other Autobots were to their base and groundbridge, therefore there was no way to accurately predict how long it would take for further backup to arrive. Starscream turned to face Soundwave upon making the decision on how to move forward with this situation.

“Order the crew to change the ship's course to the location of the energon deposit, in the meantime use the ground bridge to send a small team there to guard until our arrival which should not be too long after them” with the order given Soundwave simply nodded at Starscream before turning to leave.

“I did not order you to leave Soundwave” Starscream warned the third in command.

_“Know your place, Starscream!”_ Soundwave played a recording of Megatron scolding Starscream, hearing the warlords voice after so long made Starscream both cringe and outwardly groan glaring at Soundwave. The communication officer replied to the glare by displaying a smiley face on his faceplate’s screen before turning to leave, he had made his point. That point is to annoy Starscream and remind the seeker that he would not remain in charge forever.

 

~To be Continued


	3. The War Continues

Earth was like a thousand other planets that held organic life, there was nothing overly special about it, except for one thing. Unlike many other planets full of organic life it had energon in its raw state and that was a resource most precious to those native to the planet of Cybertron. To the dominant species on this planet that called their race humans that have made contact with friendly Cybertronians they simply called them Transformers. Such a simplified way to look at such an advanced species, for there is more to a Cybertronian than the ability to transform between two modes, some even had more than two modes, not that the humans knew that. However, it was the search for energon that had brought the Great Cybertronian War to Earth’s doorstep and as such put those on Earth in danger of being caught up in a war that for once was not caused by them. Humans were no strangers to war and conflict, looking into their history that became obvious to the new arrivals on the planet, but another thing that quickly became apparent was that if they got caught up in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons because of how small and weak compared to the Cybertronians they were it could mean the extinction of the species as a whole and Optimus Prime made it very clear he was not going to have the extinction of another race on the sidelines become yet another statistic in this war.

The Decepticons for their part did not seem to care for or about the local life of the planet and either ignored the humans or saw them as a nuisance when they got in the way of them collecting the raw energon. They simply swatted them away or killed them like annoying insects, like how a human would kill a roach that came into their own home, such was the fate of any human who accidentally wandered into an energon mine. The Autobot leader however did not want humans to be dragged into a battle that was not their own and after managing to get an audience with a small group of humans in government - to be exact the American government - they were given a special liaison in the form of former marine who went by the name Agent Fowler to help the Autobots understand Earth’s customs and better help them hide amongst the populace without causing too much alarm to locals. Their first encounter with the humans had been interesting to say the least. From questions as to how ‘robots’ as they had originally been referred to, which offended the chief medical officer of the Autobots greatly, to how could to be sentient and who built them to the realization that the humans had now made contact with alien life and learning that there was more life in the universe than just organic. In return for the humans help in hiding to avoid unneeded conflict with locals the Autobots would protect the humans from Decepticon activity.

This arrangement was all well and good but within the Autobot ranks on Earth there was those who wanted to take the fight to the Decepticons and bring this war to an end with one fell swoop, that swoop of course being taking out those in charge of the Decepticons namely the third and second in command, Soundwave and Starscream. With his two strongest lackeys out of the way taking out Megatron would be a breeze after that. Two Autobots in particular that had this mindset were Cliffjumper and Arcee. Both were considered front-line soldiers in this war with Cliffjumper who had chosen a second generation Dodge-Challenger with a pair of horns just above the cars ‘bullbar’. Arcee being of a femme frame type was a smaller bot with an alt mode inspired by a Kawasaki Ninja 250R motorcycle, after all she felt most comfortable with an alt mode that had two wheels over four. Everyone amongst the Autobots knew that Cliffjumper had a very strong hatred towards one particular Decepticon, that being Starscream and it seemed the feeling was mutual between the two enemies. No one, not even his current partner Arcee knew where this hatred stemmed from, she hated the seeker just as much as she hated all the Decepticons, but Cliffjumper it seemed had a strong vendetta against the seeker. He had claimed on several occasions that he would celebrate to the fullest the day he sees that seeker fall from the skies in defeat, for on that day the last of those wretched seekers would be gone for good. Upon hearing this statement Arcee came to the realisation that perhaps it was not Starscream in particular that her partner hated it was all Seekers in general. No one had seen a seeker other than the Decepticon second command for so long that it was common belief amongst the Autobot ranks that Starscream was the last remaining seeker of Vos and Cliffjumper was not alone in his thoughts of good riddance towards that fact.

Vos had been a divisive place for many outside its giant walls before the fall of the Council on Cybertron but became even more so when it was one of the few cities that made no official statement when the fall happened. The made no statement of choosing a side at all, then one day it was revealed that they had offered shelter to the growing Decepticon forces. This was enough for those following Optimus to see all those within the city as enemies, especially when the Autobots began seeing seekers, considered some of the most powerful of air forces on Cybertron taking arms right next to Megatron and then to learn that  it was a seeker and not his fellow former gladiator Soundwave that the Decepticon leader chose to be his second in command was surprising to many on both sides. No one could understand how a seeker that no one had ever heard of before any conflict was now standing at the Decepticons leaders side as his second in command. They might have not known this mysterious seeker at the beginning of the war, but now he was infamous for his treachery within the Decepticon ranks. This just raised more questions on both sides once again, why would Megatron keep Starscream by his side as a second in command. There were many rumors about this some more flattering towards the seeker than others. Some suggested that the seeker used charms and lewd favors to gain the leaders' confidence. It was a rumor amongst Autobot and Decepticon alike that the seeker had gained favor with the leader through these methods in the beginning. Seekers were considered mysterious beauties before the war began and many sought the conquest of begging a seeker, though it was also well known how prudish and stuck up they were towards those who were not flight frames and therefore they were seen as arrogant at best. To bed a seeker would indeed be a worthy prize for the Decepticon warlord when he would one day rule over Cybertron. Starscream for his part never confirmed or denied these rumors about himself and the Decepticon leader, though did feign annoyance when it was brought up too often in conversation when in his presence. There were, however, other whispers as to how the seeker earned his post as the second in command.

His high intelligence was well known amongst the Decepticons at the very least and he was also a more than capable fighter, and many within the ranks always figured if the seeker really did put his mind to the task he could eventually overthrow Megatron and take command of the Decepticons. To those who believed this rumor they always thought Starscream’s post as the second in command of their army was Megatron’s way of putting a leash on the seeker, figuratively of course. As the old saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Megatron must know that Starscream could become a threat and by making him second in command it would be easier for both himself and Soundwave to keep an eye on the seeker. All this, however, did not explain the hatred shared between the seeker and Cliffjumper.

Currently, Cliffjumper was a quite a few kilometers outside the town of Jasper in Nevada on patrol looking for Decepticon activity and also partly looking for an untapped energon deposit to help the team. The Autobots were not running low on energon but they were at a point where every little bit was rationed out to the team and as important as his job being out scouting for cons and energon was it was also a very dull job so Cliffjumper had turned to telling Arcee over their communicators his latest visit to one of the big human cities. There had been reports of strange robotic creatures being seen in New York and Cliffjumper had been sent to investigate, it turned out to be nothing but that did not mean Cliffjumper was bored during his mission.

“So there I am waiting for my chance to leave when I see a police vehicle pull up to me and I’m thinking scrap, what have I done wrong? Then it hits me I’m illegally parked.” There is a soft laugh from Arcee over the radio as she waits for her partner to continue his story. “So not only do I get slapped with a ticket on my windscreen but then they have the audacity to put this big metal clamp thing on one of my rear tyres, and let me tell you when they clamped that thing on it pinched into my tyre it took everything in me not to flinch in front of the humans.”

“The first rule of being on this boring planet, stay hidden” responded Arcee matter of factly

“Yeah yeah, but this thing as I said was pinching something chronic I swear Arcee, so as soon as there were no humans around and that took way longer than it should have for that time of night, I had to transform right there just to remove the damn thing before I could drive off! But then oh lucky me just as I removed the damn thing a patrol car came around the corner.”

“And New York’s finest was in for a surprise, I remember Cliff. That Fowler human gave you a chewing out for all the red tape as he said had to be put in place to cover your tracks.”

“I swear Arcee the sooner we get off this mudball the better, all this organic life and rules…” grumbled Cliffjumper

“Optimus will not have us pull out from this planet till he knows for sure that all the cons are gone you know that Cliffjumper!”

“I know but… woah I’m picking up an energon signal not far from my location a big one and it is unguarded! I am so checking this out!” Upon picking up the energon signal on his radar Cliffjumper put the pedal to the medal and made his way to the location, hopefully finding a decent energon cache might be a way to get back into the teams' good books since the incident in New York.

“Give me your location so I can back you up, it could be a Decepticon trap!”

“Please, if there are cons they will only be boring vehicons once again. We have not seen any of the big guys for a while now…”  Drifting off the road and down a dirt path the red Autobot came to a stop just outside a ravine filled with Energon crystals without a con or human in sight so he quickly decided to transform to his robot mode, the calm did not last long however as Cliffjumper heard several vehicles approaching and on the horizon he saw a large squad of vehicons. A quick headcount saw eight in total approaching, not good numbers in Cliffjumper's favor. “Aahh, Arcee about that backup…”

“I’ve locked onto your signal and I am already on my way, just hang in there Cliffjumper.”

   
  


~To be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long everyone and I do hope you enjoyed this chapter


	4. Seeker in the Basement

It is a well-known fact among many Cybertronians that flight frames, especially seekers hate closed in spaces especially when those closed in spaces are underground. If you wanted to torture a flight frame the best way to do so, would be one of two ways. The first way is to do damage to their wings and make it so that they are unable to fly, to ground a flyer can put great strain on both their physical health, as without flight they will overheat and a great mental strain on them. The second way, however, is considered even crueler. You would lock them up in a small underground space with no view of the outside world and no obvious way out. They will begin to panic almost immediately once they realize that they are in fact trapped and can not get back out to the sky and if left in this state of panic for too long a seeker will eventually fall into a stress-induced forced stasis and if left in this state for too long they will eventually overheat and slowly die. Not many know just how delicate the mental state of seeker can be, because of how proud they act, they are both powerful frames but at the same time extremely delicate. Just never, ever call a seeker delicate. Ever.

Though not a seeker, but of a shuttle class flight frame Skyfire always felt uncomfortable whenever he had to visit Bitstream in his lab because it was located in the first basement of the towering laboratory known as The Facility to those within K-2. This becomes even more surprising to many when it is revealed that the scientist that never leaves said basement because of one very disheartening fact. The scientist within is the only flightless seeker in existence, a seeker that never flies above the clouds, anymore.

It was a long elevator ride down to the halls that led to Bitstreams lab. Due to the poor lighting in said corridors constantly shorting out, as they were not as high on the maintenance schedule as the lights on the upper more populated floors above, and the fact that a large amount of power to the basement was used to keep the temperature within very cold to prevent anything within from overheating many had nicknamed the basement lab ‘The Catacombs’ and due to this nickname and the fact that a seeker was willingly keeping themselves underground, there were many rumors about the scientist within. Whispers of gossip amongst those who worked alongside the original scientists and rumors that most who knew the truth just ignored.

Some rumors that said he was a mangled and disfigured seeker were partly true, for Bitstream had sustained very serious injuries to himself before the war, injuries that had him permanently lose his ability to ever fly again, a would be a death sentence for any other seeker but by some miracle of Primus himself, Bitstream had survived. Part of the reason he had survived was the fact that his brother Hotlink was an engineering genius and with the help of an equally genius medic the seeker had been saved. It was a heavy cost, but he had survived. Other rumors, however, were cruel and painted the secretive seeker as some sort of monster who hid away in the basement because he was experimenting on other Cybertronians in a vain attempt to restore his own mangled body. This could not be further from the truth as to what Bitstream worked on below. In fact, if those above truly knew what his work entailed they would be eternally grateful to the seeker for the hero he was to them all.

He had created and was in charge of the entire security system and secret protocols of K-2. These security systems kept the settlement hidden away from anyone who still took part in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and made sure no one happened upon the settlement. One of the biggest protocols for K-2 was the first rule, you are only brought here once and if you choose to leave, you were very rarely allowed back again. This is because if you leave you will never find the planet again. This was due to a planet-wide security network that had been designed by Bitstream himself that made planet near impossible to find on any radar system as all radio signals surrounding the planetary system would for lack of a better description go on the fritz and at the current time, the only one who knew how to send signals in and out of the system was Bitstream. A great source of pride for the seeker indeed, though many had argued against Bistream having that level of power of the planet. To this, the seeker had laughed and stated quite simply and proudly if anyone could break his code they were free to do so. If they could he would take them on as an apprentice to his work if they so wished upon meeting him. Quite a few of the top scientists saw this as a challenge and did indeed try to break the code. Some had been trying since the first cycles they had arrived since before the war, and no one else had yet to break the code, many of those who had attempted to break the code had even nicknamed it ‘The Chaos Code’ because there seemed to be no sense or reason to it.

Skyfire stopped in front of a door that was just tall enough for him to walk through without having to duck through and pressed the buzzer by the door. After a few moments, a small panel beside the door opened to reveal a screen with a blurry grey image cutting in and out followed by an annoyed voice “If you are here to drop off my energon rations just leave it by the door and get lost, I am very busy at the moment and do not have time for idle chit chat, in other words, buzz off.”

“Charming as ever I see” chuckled Skyfire, “Hotlink said you wanted to see me. So should I just leave this here and leave?” Skyfire held up a pair of energon cubes.

The image on the screen in front of him began to become clearer as Bitstream leaned towards the camera, his silver face and purple optics coming into view “Skyfire? I wasn’t expecting Hotlink to find you so quickly. One sec I’ll open the door.” A loud groan of gears could be heard from the door as it slowly opened as a burst of cold air followed suit causing the shuttle to shiver, the feeling reminding him of the rush one feels when they clear the atmosphere of a planet.

The inside of Bitstream’s lab had not changed much since the last time Skyfire had been to visit, and he had to tread lightly and watch his footing as he stepped over countless wires that littered the floor as well as a few coolant tubes that hissed as the pressure within them built and released through various vents. Ever surface within had some kind of electronic device on it and the screens flashed information in various different languages, some of which Skyfire identified as from various Cybertronian cities and others completely alien to the mech. As he made it to the center of the room he came face to face with the enigmatic scientist known as Bitstream. He was currently hanging from the ceiling a collection of thick, muscular like wires giving his lower half a snake-like appearance as he moved gracefully from one monitor to another inspecting the information on each and taking notes on a datapad he held within his seeker claws. Bitstream was a silver seeker with teal highlights on the sides of his frame and on the nubs on the back of his shoulders where his wings once were, his back covered in long-healed scar tissue that meant wings would never be attached there again. Upon Skyfire arriving just a few meters away from him, the wingless seeker turned his serpentine body to face the shuttle.

“I really did not think he would find you up on the roof so quickly, you made me lose a bet.” the seeker glared at Skyfire before reaching for one of the energon cubes and drinking greedily from the cube and taking a short sigh of relief before continuing “Needed that, anyway the reason I called you here is because I picked up a signal from Cybertron that I think might be of interest to you.”

“If this is more Insecticon activity in Koan again I am leaving” shudders Skyfire, those things really creeped the shuttle out, that humming noise they made when they fly just made his armor crawl.”

“No no, nothing like that…. Though they do seem to be growing in number again. Quite odd wouldn’t you agree for Cybertronian life to be thriving on a so-called dead planet?”

‘And here he goes again on his planet exodus conspiracy theory’ Skyfire tried really hard not to roll his optics at Bitstream, the seeker had come up with this farfetched theory about the whole point of the war being to get everyone to leave the planet, a theory he had told to anyone willing to listen.

"Get to the point Bitstream”

“Remember that orbital space station you use to work on? The one that was used to study dark energon? Well, it’s still in Cybertron’s orbit and the security system is still activated.”

“Impossible that place was abandoned before the exodus of the planet!” Skyfire knew exactly which space station Bitstream was talking about, it had been shut down early on because it was deemed too dangerous even in orbit to study dark energon.

“I was alerted early last cycle that someone had boarded the space station and I think you will find it interesting as to who was spotted there…” The seeker pointed to the biggest screen in the lab and after a few taps on his datapad a static-filled image began to appear and the energon ran cold through Skyfire’s system as he saw a familiar mech thrash his way into the main lab.

 “Megatron!”

 ~To be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always bugged me how in Transformers Prime it was never explained where Megatron got the dark energon, I know align continuity and all that but is it just me or did the beginning of the story for prime feel like it started halfway through a story? Also if there are any Beast Machines fans reading this Bitstream's design is inspired by a certain villain of that series. Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter!


End file.
